"WE THE PEOPLE": ANOTHER LAYOFF UPDATE, THE HUMAN SIDE

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

ANOTHER LAYOFF UPDATE, THE HUMAN SIDE

The list of names of laid off Hartford employees begins. These are civilian positions from the Hartford Police Department.

46 comments:

No milkbone in my cruiser said...: So one dog warden for the entire city. That seems logical. I for one will tell you that i will not be responding to any pitbull type calls. We have zero training and equipment to deal with the wild dogs loose in the city. Not to mention the safety aspect of it. I guess the city rather pay out more civil money when dogs are shot by officers.
Good luck with that one. I bet there will be some half assed give back day training on how to handle dogs in the city. Maybe it can be a dagle esk video that will put me into a deep sleep .....; May 4, 2016 at 4:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Maybe demote the 8 deputy chiefs back to their rank. What does rendock do anyways? The capt postion has become a dead rank. Reathis and others make 200 k a year and do about 2 hrs of really work in one week.
Make all the teleserve troopers and habitual injury prone people like twin dung do some work instead of her smoking cigarettes every 30 minutes directly next to the oxygen tanks located on the south side of police headquarters. Im pretty sure you are not suppose to have any lit flames or smoldering ash near sealed oxygen tanks... But no one seems to care these days about anything but pjs and 63s..; May 4, 2016 at 4:39 PM
Anonymous said...: So sorry for these folks, it's not their fault that the city has been mismanaged since Eddie Perez and his successors no different.; May 4, 2016 at 4:52 PM
Anonymous said...: The sad part is that the good people aka proficient in their duties, are the ones taking the hit for this. I'm just thinking about their children as I write this though. The worst part is that, there is more waste in money to follow.; May 4, 2016 at 5:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Wouldn't it be pro-worker for the unions to, instead of agreeing to lay offs, suggest that all membership reduce benefits in exchange for not laying anyone off. But we all know how worker oriented they are, don't we.

Ya right, Seniority rules. Forget about the less senior. All for one and one for all - not.

@4:34 if we all did our fair share and not wait for Mr Gray Beard, things would be improved.; May 4, 2016 at 6:06 PM
Anonymous said...: The city has been mismanaged since way before Eddie Perez, the new mayor has an agenda and thinks this will give him a pratform to run for governor of the state of CT, in the meantime the city as well as the state continue to mismanage founds while giving them selfs raises and bonuses, keep your eyes open!; May 4, 2016 at 6:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Mayor Bronin dose not have an agenda. Mayor Bronin has stated again and again that there would be tough choices made. Wake up Hartford workers. The Mayor has to do what prior administrations could and would not do. Hartford is broke. Babies cry and sometimes whine. This is no time to do either city employees. Union/non workers have to give back. The folks who do not live in Hartford should be the first to be let go. However, it dose not work that way. It would be a wonderful world if everyone who worked in Hartford lived in the capitol city. Let's give Mayor Luke Bronin support in this very difficult time.; May 4, 2016 at 7:06 PM
Anonymous said...: @7:06

I basically have no issue with city employees living in Hartford. I do have a major, bucco, incredibly humongous problem with hiring dud heads just because they live in Hartford. And we all know that the patronage system and good ole boys and girls network over decades has insured that the dudist of the dud heads have found employment with the City of Hartford.

And I am not using my argument as a cover for being a racist. I am calling a rake a rake.; May 4, 2016 at 8:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Honestly they should get rid of the cleaning crew. High and 50 Jennings road are discusting. How can they justify paying these people when they do such a horrible job. Trash cans overflowing with garbage, bathrooms smelling like pure urine.; May 4, 2016 at 11:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Kevin I've seen people ask several times already but I'll ask the same question again. What is the status of the Lou Crabtree investigation. We have a city that is in such dire need of money that it is laying hard working employees off. Meanwhile Lou Crabtree is in another state laughing all the way to the bank!!!?? People say he got away with close to 200,000.00 dollars worth of stolen ammo!! Why have you not been able to put details of that investigation on the blog? "We the People" deserve to know the truth!! Stop covering for you buddy the chief!!; May 4, 2016 at 11:48 PM
Anonymous said...: That's a good question; May 5, 2016 at 12:34 AM
C squad cabbage said...: What does captain reathis do besides make 200k a year with a take home car? Foi that fellas file. You need a wheel barrel to get it out of personnel. The dog wardens made crap money, but sherry really helped out a lot. Bronin failed to ask simple questions, which will cost the city more in civil lawsuits against the city. I for one will be suing the city if i am ever bitten by one of these maniac city dogs. We have zero training and equipment to deal with these dogs. And want me to transport these dogs to where ? No problem. I will take my sweet time to drive to the pound and sit there for half my shift.
Once again mr mayor. Good job. Sherry actually cared about the animals of hartford.; May 5, 2016 at 4:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Sherry DeGenova is a wonderful person. She should have been kept. Everything she built for her dogs should not go to waste.; May 5, 2016 at 7:23 AM
Anonymous said...: That is true, Detectives and officers got arrested and fired for less than that. Not only the chief but I believe other people had to sign off on that. But I think it's the police covering it and not Kevin.; May 5, 2016 at 7:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Why post the names of the individuals who lost their jobs? It is already embarrassing and tough for them as is but to have the public know they were laid off is another layer of embarrassment. Couldnt just give the number of people laid off in the police department.; May 5, 2016 at 8:47 AM
Anonymous said...: It is unacceptable that Sherry and Carmelo lost their jobs. They are the only animal control officers who actually do their job and actually care. Sherry specifically went above and beyond often giving her own time to a cause she truly believes in. The loss of this woman is a travesty to the city and all the animals she is no longer there to help get adopted out.

Kevin out of curiosity, how many of the council members' assistants lost their jobs?; May 5, 2016 at 9:42 AM
Cassandra Ward said...: Many jobs can be listed as essential, some not so much. However - the ACO positions are cut? Really? The Power That Be really are clueless as to what goes on in the field. This is a public safety issue. The very reason there are ACO's is because they have specialized training on how to deal with all types of animals, not just dogs and cats, but what about rabid raccoons?

When the other Officers have to now spend their time on animal calls, it will tie up their day and take away from what they were hired to do. This is a very short sided decision that obviously was not well thought out. Shame on those who made this hasty decision.; May 5, 2016 at 2:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Layoffs at the Library today!!!; May 5, 2016 at 2:43 PM
Kozi said...: Sherry and Carmelo are both outstanding at what they do. Sherry goes above and beyond when it comes to finding homes for the hundreds of abandoned, abused and neglected dogs in the city. They both also enforce the animal codes of the city bringing in revenue and keeping illegal puppy mills and fighting at a minimum. Who does Mayor Bronin expect to pick up the slack on that front, patrol? Already decimated from lack of personnel and running at bare staffing levels for officer safety purposes and now you give them something else to have to deal with. Brilliant! If my calculations are correct Sherry had about 18 years of service under her belt...the least the city can do is allow her to collect her (early) retirement benefits.; May 5, 2016 at 4:43 PM
Anonymous said...: I heard tom boley is gone too. Good riddens. He is useless ...; May 5, 2016 at 5:01 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: 5:01PM

I don't think your information is accurate. Boley was the financial manager that kept HPD spending under control ( as much as possible). To the best of my knowledge he is still there; May 5, 2016 at 5:12 PM
Anonymous said...: I believe that the city's forestry department got decimated with layoffs today. Who will they call when trees go down throughout the city during storms? There are no qualified personnel who can operate the aerial bucket to remove limbs and branches on power lines. These individuals are licensed and certified to remove trees. When more lawsuits are given to the city who will pay off all these court cases for neglect? Wait and see. Who the hell made these ridiculous decisions?; May 5, 2016 at 7:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Which of the 8 deputy chiefs are going back to their old rank? Will they keep their Take home suv?; May 5, 2016 at 7:46 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: 7:34PM

All valid point, but what is the alternative. The City has been so poorly managed for many years and it is now time to pay the price for that incompetence. It seems odd that the Hartford City Council is willing to oversee the budget process , yet they did not make any cuts or layoffs in their offices Councilman Gale and Concepcion did the right thing and consolidated and both share one assistant, but instead of cutting a position , the Council promoted former Councilman Aponte's aide to an Administrative position as the "head" assistant rather than reducing a position Get rid of a couple useless Council Aid positions and rehire an Animal Control Officer or a Forester.

Even Mayor Bronion cut his staff by a few positions, even his videographer was laid off. A nice guy, but a position we couldn't afford. I was pretty vocal about that one.

Leadership involves leading by example and this council is setting a very poor example.; May 5, 2016 at 7:55 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: 7:46PM

No Deputy Chiefs are going back or being demoted from what I was told today. All School Resource Officer's (SRO's)are coming back to patrol, All mounted Officers are being returned as of July 1st, all Business Service Officer's (BSO) are being eliminated and returned to walk beats. Apparently the walkbeat officers can be used to fill cruisers as needed, by contract BSO's can not. So the changes allow the Chief some flexibility to manage overtime needs more. Several CSO positions are being eliminated, for a total of 14 Citywide. (North Meadows and South Meadows are being cut as well as a couple of others)

I did make my recommendations on a couple of D/C's I would like to see bumped, but no luck yet; May 5, 2016 at 8:07 PM
Anonymous said...: What positions no names where laid off.; May 5, 2016 at 8:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Mr. Brookman, I have occasionally read your blog from time to time pertaining to matters involving the Hartford Police Department. Although I don’t agree with Officers adding fuel to the fire, the recent posting pertaining to layoffs has compelled me to write a response to your blog which is my first. My intent is to offend anyone.

Anonymous, May 4, 2016 @ 4:39 PM brings up a valid point,

“Maybe demote the 8 deputy chiefs back to their rank. What does rendock do anyways? The capt postion has become a dead rank. Reathis and others make 200 k a year and do about 2 hrs of really work in one week”.

When I started my tenure with the Hartford Police Department in the 1990s I recall a force of over 500 Officers with day to day operations run by the Chief of Police, Assistant Chief and three deputies, along with Captains who actually worked.

The current size of the Hartford Police Department is around 350 sworn Officers. There are currently seven Chiefs running this department.
1. Rovella- Chief of Police
2. Long- Deputy Chief
3. Rendock- I don’t what he does
4. Foley- Chief of Detectives/PIO
5. Buyak- Chief of the South PSA
6. Brooks- Chief of the Central PSA
7. Ford- Chief of the North PSA

There was an 8th Chief, but once he retired, he was never replaced.

All seven Chiefs have take-home cars and make six figure salaries. They are also APPOINTED positions in which they can be demoted back to their former rank. I believe at least four of them were appointed to Deputy Chiefs from the rank of Lieutenant. In addition, you have five Captains; Buyak, Rethis, Depinto, Roy, and Thody. These five are NOT appointed and tested to receive their current rank. Anonymous is correct in stating that none of them are gainfully employed and have no current purpose. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The salary of the command staff with take home cars is probably close to 1.5 million dollars per year.

There are also approximately 150 less Officers than the early 1990s yet 2 more CHIEFS. Why is that? What is the purpose? The Captains are not being utilized. This is a complete waste of money.

My suggestion is to eliminate (5 out of 7) Deputy Chief Positions, make the Captains in charge of the PSAs (3) , make a Captain in charge of Detectives (1), That leaves two extra Captains, and unfortunately four who go back to their former rank of Lieutenants. I know egos will be crushed and some will be extremely offended. In these tough fiscal times, there is no purpose to be paid to do nothing.

People who have commented on this post are correct, the two ACOs who were laid off were not only excellent workers who were passionate about their jobs and provided a valuable service to the city, and did bring in revenue. 7 civilian positions were eliminated. I know six of them from previously dealing with them. I can tell you, these 7 employees didn't make much money working for the city, yet provided valuable services , and are a BETTER deal than the COMMAND STAFF currently in place.

It may be wise to question Mayor Bronin on why he hasn’t eliminated some of the heavy fluff at the Hartford Police Department which is not needed. Mayor Bronin should also eliminate some of his unnecessary staff in City Hall and lead by example, just like Officers are expected to do in the US Military. He was a commissioned Officer correct?

Retired HPD Member; May 5, 2016 at 8:49 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: 8:34PM

what is your question?; May 5, 2016 at 8:53 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: 8:49PM

all valid points and I agree with you on most of them. I have had similar conversations with Chief Rovella. Unfortunately the Captain positions are required by contract an can't be eliminated without a contract change, Hopefully in the current contract negotiations many of these things will be changed, and they need to be. I would probably get rid of at least two or three of the Deputy Chiefs, and no one would probably notice they wee even gone,

My understanding is that the two existing Animal Control Officer were encouraged to consider retirement,one has 38 years and the other, currently out on medical leave , has 28 years, They both refused to accept retirement to save the jobs of the two junior ACO's; May 5, 2016 at 9:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Mr. Brookman

Thank you for the clarification on the two existing ACOs. I know both as well and hopefully they decide to retire soon so Sherry and Carmelo are offered their positions back.

In reference to the Deputy Chief Positions,

You are correct, the Captains are required by contract. The Deputy Chiefs are not and appointed positions which can be eliminated. My suggestion would be:
Rovella remains as Chief
Long as Assistant Chief

Buyak goes back to Captain and remains in charge of South PSA

That leaves North, Central PSA, and the Commander of the Detective Bureau (Pick three of the five current Captains to take over)

This leaves you with two Captains for other Administrative tasks/functions

Foley, Ford, Brooks, and Rendock, were previously Lieutenants if I am correct. I may be wrong and maybe only two were.
Foley can still remain as the PIO, no other function, just less pay and rank.

All the Deputies are aware they are appointed and can be demoted at any time. This is why they are encouraged to take the Captain’s test, just in case. Rovella demoted Deputy Chief Ciesinski and he went back to his Captain position. Shortly after, Lieutenant Hightower was promoted to Deputy Chief.

This isn’t personal, just business, the city doesn’t have the money for inflated positions. A true leader works harder than his subordinates, is fair, impartial, just, open to ideas, and leads by example. Unfortunately the majority of the Command Staff doesn’t follow these values.

You say get rid of, “at least two or three of the Deputy Chiefs, and no one would probably notice they were even gone.” I disagree and say five.

Retired HPD Member; May 5, 2016 at 9:44 PM
Anonymous said...: @2:27

As far as I know, no one in Animal Control handles cats. They don't have any rank in Hartford. Once they are outside, they are destined e to die within 1-2 years. No one cares.; May 5, 2016 at 10:40 PM
Anonymous said...: That's extremely selfish; May 6, 2016 at 2:49 AM
Anonymous said...: If the Public Safety crew lived in Hartford from day one Hartford would have had property and car taxes on the books. Sorry, residing in Hartford is a big factor. It is a shame that the majority of the Public Safety workers used to live Hartford. Move back there are plenty of condos, rents, rooms and homes to be had.; May 6, 2016 at 8:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Animal control is very important in Hartford. However, residence should be responsible for their pets. No one in Hartford is responsible for anything in 2016. Surrounding towns do not want to deal with any of Hartford's serious problems. People abandoned Hartford years ago.; May 6, 2016 at 8:53 AM
Anonymous said...: I do not think Councilmen Gale and Conception need to pay their aide $64,000 plus benefits. That is outrageous. The Court of Common Council must downsize. These aides do not produce. Mayor Bronin must change non/resident Linda Bayer to a volunteer. Her days on the city payroll should be over. If she cares so much about Hartford she will agree to stay as a volunteer.; May 6, 2016 at 9:34 AM
Cassandra Ward said...: I'm responding to this:

"Anonymous said...

Animal control is very important in Hartford. However, residence should be responsible for their pets. No one in Hartford is responsible for anything in 2016. Surrounding towns do not want to deal with any of Hartford's serious problems. People abandoned Hartford years ago."

Seriously? PEOPLE should also be responsible for their own actions and obvious inability to follow the law, but we all know that doesn't happen. Animals have no voice anymore, now that Sherry is gone. Why can't the COH force the 2 senior ACO's to retire? Ludicrous. The two ACO's laid off were "do-ers". As far as surrounding towns "not wanting to deal with Hartford's problems" - I disagree. I would guess that a large majority of those adopting pets from Hartford ARE from out of town. People who are animal lovers don't care where they came from - why should that matter? They just want to give them a life where they are save and loved.; May 6, 2016 at 10:49 AM
Anonymous said...: 9:34am

especially paying her $64,000 a year when she is not there most of the time because she is attending college classes. I guess that is one of the perks of dating Devaughn Ward from the Mayor's Office and having worked for Senator Fonfara before getting a job in City Hall. City Hall is as dirty and corrupt as it has ever been; May 6, 2016 at 11:07 AM
Anonymous said...: Maybe she should give back money to the city for the hours that she is not at city hall. Appointed aides are usually useless. However, their salaries out of control. What is wrong with the Council? Remember last term Councilwoman Jennings wanted her salary to jump to $90,000.; May 6, 2016 at 1:56 PM
Kozi said...: Tom Bowley is still there but I just found out today he is retiring within the next few weeks.; May 6, 2016 at 3:18 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: Thanks Kozi,

And to whoever I corrected yesterday, I apologize. He wasn't one of the layoffs but I did find out today that he is retiring. That is a vital position to keeping the budget in check and monitoring spending.; May 6, 2016 at 4:19 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: 1:56PM

and if I remember correctly she also wanted an expense account of $20,000 for each councilperson. Any wonder why we are in this mess?; May 6, 2016 at 4:25 PM
Anonymous said...: @4:25

And most likely, she wanted this raise to accommodate her expanding gludious Maximus. Who voted her in? The inteligencia of the Hartford voter.; May 6, 2016 at 5:35 PM
Anonymous said...: It seems confusing when some people who are laid off have to leave immediately and leave many offices scrambling to plug holes, but other people are able to stay until a date that benefits them. This round of layoffs did prove this to be true. Obviously these officers did a great job and made a difference. We are officer poor in the city and I don't see how laying off any officers would benefit us in anyway. I completely agree that we must fix our fiscal mess, but lets make decisions that are fair and equitable.; May 6, 2016 at 6:18 PM
KEVIN BROOKMAN said...: To leave immediately is a common business practice, and actually a good one. Human nature being what it is, not everyone takes the loss of their job well. Leaving immediately, or being escorted out after given the bad new, avoids any destruction of records or projects or damaging Computer files and records.

It may sound harsh, but it is the right thing to do.

And in this day and age of potential workplace violence, you have to make every effort to avoid any opportunity for that to occur; May 6, 2016 at 6:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Kevin, $64,000 is to high for someone who is hardly/never there. At least AA former aide is in the office willing to do the job for a much lower salary. If your going to point fingers make sure its to the one that doesn't do the job.; May 7, 2016 at 6:36 AM
Unknown said...: My beef is with the schools. There are schools with 300 students or less. With these schools they do not need principals or assistant principals. One principal is going between Buckeyly high school and Weaver high school which i truly believe is a conflict of interest. The schools could be operated as a teacher's collective schools. With those 2 positions cut a little over 250k a year. Combine back Weaver with JMA in 2017 school year.
Also stop paying principals for work they are not doing when they were let go from Hartford public school system with an 81 percent non confident rating in November 2015. This principal is still being paid 130k this year and possibly next year. And he is also trying to open a charter school on Hartford.; May 9, 2016 at 11:45 AM

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Wednesday, May 4, 2016

ANOTHER LAYOFF UPDATE, THE HUMAN SIDE

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